Papillon
by ED of Oblivion
Summary: In all of us, there is a peaceful refuge to which we may go during our hard and sometimes unforgiving times. During a lull in wartime, Duo Maxwell lets us experience his own. [Oneshot] [2x3]


**Author:** ED of Oblivion

**Title:** Papillon

**Rating:** G (K)

**Genre:** Romance

**Summary:** In all of us, there is a peaceful refuge to which we may go during our hard and sometimes unforgiving times. During a lull in wartime, Duo Maxwell lets us experience his own. (One-shot) (2x3)

**Warnings:** _Shounen-ai_ ("boy love"), fluff, PWP.

**Disclaimers:** I do not own _Gundam Wing_. _Gundam Wing_ belongs to Bandai Entertainment, Inc. and Sunrise. I am making no profit off of this fiction.

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_**Papillon**_

"_Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."_ -Nathaniel Hawthorne

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I am definitely guaranteed a sunburn today.

It's bright outside, not a cloud in the sky. It's hot, too; I can feel the grass beginning to sear lightly underneath my back. My eyes are shut against the sun above me, burning gently through my eyelids.

I've decided to take it easy today: no missions, no chores, and no responsibility. Today, I'm taking some downtime. Right now, at this moment, simply laying in the sun in the meadow behind the safe house is all I want to do.

When the light shining through my eyelids is suddenly gone, I feel a light touch to my right cheek. I open my eyes a little, smiling lazily when I see who has come outside to join me. It's Trowa, crouched behind me so that we're looking at each other upside-down, gently brushing my face with the backs of his tentative fingers. His face is neutral, but the green eyes share a warmth with my own. He speaks quietly, telling me I'll get a sunburn if I stay out any longer. In response I turn my head, nudging his fingers with my nose before I shut my eyes again, ready to bask in the light once more.

Trowa's touch leaves me, and I can see the light of the sun through my eyelids again. There is a quick, light vibration in the ground, so slight that I can hardly feel it underneath me. I lift my head and look to my right side. I smile: he's decided to join me in my sunbathing. How touching. And I mean that, too.

A tiny shadow passes across my line of sight; it's a butterfly. I sit up quickly and get to my feet. I can feel Trowa's eyes on me as I follow the little winged bugger partway into the field, but I'm not worried, and neither is he. After a ways, the insect picks a spot to land; I slowly fall into a crouching position and crawl over to get a better look.

I've never seen a butterfly before. At least, not this close up. I'm astonished at how many colors are blended onto the little thing: its wings are a shimmering silver-blue with fine black borders, the bottoms of which abruptly shift to a bright orange-and-black pattern. With every twitch of its wings I get a glimpse of their spotted light brown underneath. Its own body blends smoothly from a blue that reminds me of Heero's eyes, to a near-blinding white. The butterfly moves delicately over its bearings, the sun's light warping the colors from blue to purple, to red, to a green that I know so well.

Who would have thought the God of Death could be so entranced with something so small and innocent as a butterfly?

There's an ache in my heart, but I can't quite place what it is. Slowly, I reach out a hand to try and touch the little creature, but I am not even relatively close when it floats back up into the summer air. I smile, almost sadly, and am just about to straighten and go back to Trowa, when I notice the flower the butterfly had only recently been perched upon.

It's a bright yellow flower, almost like a daisy, but larger. It's not huge or anything, but it's relatively bigger than any meadow flower I've ever seen (which isn't very many at all). The flower's core is a solid dark brown, and its stem stretches just a little under two feet tall; I don't know what it's called, but it somehow feels familiar to me. Only when I reach out to finger the stem (which turns out to be quite soft, like velvet) do I realize that I'm crouching in a whole bunch of them. They all look like they're facing towards the sun, kind of like miniature sunflowers. Unconsciously, I grin with delight.

Carefully breaking the stem of the flower, I stand up and wander back up the slight hill to find Trowa.

He's still where I left him: lying on his back in the grass, his hands folded loosely over his stomach, eyes shut. I come down onto my knees at his side, holding the flower I have just out of sight, and tap him lightly on his chest. Trowa's emerald eyes lazily flutter open (he must have been napping), and just as he looks over to me I grin and unceremoniously thrust the yellow flower in front of his face.

I think I surprised him.

His mouth is hanging slightly open, and I pull the flower back just a little bit so he can sit up. He looks from the flower to me; back to the flower and to me again. He asks shyly if the flower's for him, and I tell him, yes, it is. Trowa reaches out and takes the flower from me as if it's going to bite him. Slowly, a small smile (and an equally-small blush) comes to his face. He extends a hand and brings it to my face, caressing my cheek with his thumb. Gently pulling me closer, he places a shy, affectionate kiss over my mouth, which I gladly (but carefully) return. He pulls his mouth away and places his lightly flushed cheek to mine, and I smile against him; Trowa's still getting used to touch, but I don't mind. I like the way we're going.

Trowa turns me around and pulls me to sit in-between his legs, so that I'm leaning back against his chest. He pulls my braid out and over my shoulder so that it won't get caught between us, and loosely hugs me. His turtleneck is hot from the sun (I still can't believe he can wear those things even in the summertime), warming my back instantly. I can feel his warm breath on the back of my head as I lean against him.

A Black-Eyed Susan, he tells me, and I realize he's talking about the flower. He likes it.

A glimmer of light catches my eye, and I look up to spot the butterfly I'd been spying on minutes before. It flutters around aimlessly; I realize suddenly how close it actually is when it comes over and lands on the top of my boot at the end of my outstretched leg. Trowa sees it, too; he squeezes me just a little tighter.

The heat is making me sleepy, and I let my eyelids shut themselves. Trowa and I make promises to each other that we'll only stay out just a little bit longer. We both know we'll probably forget.

Oh yes. I am definitely guaranteed a sunburn today.

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_OWARI_

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The butterfly mentioned in this little tidbit is known as a Karner Blue, an endangered species in the United States, native to the eastern U.S. and the Great Lake states. Trowa's right, too: the flower mentioned is known as a Black-Eyed Susan, a common wildflower that is also native to the eastern U.S. It's also the state flower of Maryland. This has been pointless-yet-vaguely-interesting facts with Edward. **:D**

This story is inspired by the song "Papillon" from the album "Secret Garden: Songs From A Secret Garden" (which I highly recommend). Every time I hear this particular song, I always picture Duo and Trowa somewhere in a field together. I don't know why that is, but I'm not complaining! **XD** Just look at what resulted from it!

As a side note, _papillon_ is French for "butterfly."

Please enjoy! And let me know how you like it!

**_-EDWARD-_**


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